Tag Archives: safety

Post navigation

WILKES-BARRE — Thursday seemed like the best possible day to release a report on a downtown survey.

Public Square was filled with people attending the weekly farmers’ market and Mother Nature cooperated by offering a spectacular day of sunshine.

Patty Kopec and her daughter, Frankie, were enjoying some of the food and sunshine. Even with no entertainment on the band shell stage, the Kopecs raved about the city and the downtown and said they wished more events were planned for Public Square.

Fatherless families, a lack of jobs and school dropout rates contribute to poverty and local economic conditions, U.S. Rep. Joseph R. Pitts said Monday.

“Families with fathers and mothers are the best anti-poverty program,” said the Chester County Republican, whose district includes Reading. “Saying these simple things can land you in all kinds of trouble.”

In an interview afterward, Pitts listed some points raised during the four-hour event that he will pursue.

“We will come up with some projects,” Pitts said.

While some of the 75 political, business and nonprofit leaders who participated agreed with Pitts’ points, several made their own arguments for improving the economy in Reading, where the 2012 poverty rate of 40.5 percent made it the second most impoverished city in the country behind Detroit.

The Manheim Township School District has notified parents that they will no longer be allowed to visit schools to have lunch with their children, a move it says is designed to “ensure a safe learning environment.”

The new policy was approved by the school board on March 21 and is effective May 1.

The policy was described in a letter to parents dated March 22 and signed by the district’s elementary-, intermediate-, middle- and high-school principals.

The letter stated that an exception can be made by each school’s principal if they choose to participate in a celebration such as National Lunch Week. The new policy would not allow parents to bring “restaurant food from outside sources” during such celebrations, however.

A city man was killed Thursday when he drove through a red light on Schuylkill Avenue at Buttonwood Street while talking on a cellphone and his car was hit broadside by a work van, authorities said.

Jose E. DeJesus Garcia, 53, who investigators said lived in the northwestern area of the city not far from the crash site, was pulled from the car by a nearby resident as the vehicle caught fire following the 8:25 a.m. accident. He died before police arrived.

Within minutes, police vehicles, firetrucks and ambulances filled a one-block area that was strewn with mangled vehicle parts. Firefighters quickly put out the burning car.

City detectives and evidence technicians responded along with patrol officers. The intersection was closed nearly four hours, slowing commuter traffic on other routes.

The owner of the planned Shop Smart Buy Smarter grocery has spent more than $1 million on the building at 1626 Perkiomen Ave. and wants to open a 38-seat restaurant that’s in the same building but separate from the store.

To do that, state law says he needs City Council’s OK to transfer an out-of-town liquor license to the restaurant.

But city officials and neighbors told council at a hearing Wednesday that they don’t need yet another liquor outlet in the area that’s already got plenty of taverns.

Berks County ranked well this year in a national crime report, even as Reading slipped in the ratings compared to last year.

The Reading metro area, which is all of Berks, was the 235th most dangerous of 353 other U.S. metro areas, meaning only 119 metro areas were determined to have been safer in 2010, according to CQ Press. The metro area ranked 232 last year.

Reading was ranked the 33rd most dangerous U.S. city in the study by CQ Press, which based its work on cities with more than 75,000 residents that reported 2010 crime statistics to the FBI.

A recently released report on crime in American cities ranks the city among the 25 safest metropolitan areas in the nation.

CQ Press, an independent publishing company that releases the report each year, ranked the Williamsport metropolitan area, which includes all of Lycoming County, as 21st in the nation out of 354 metropolitan areas.

The statistics compiled by the company are based on the number of crimes, including homicides, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts, reported to the FBI in 2008.

Philadelphia International came in at number 14. There have been 50 runway “incidents” at PHL; fourteen of those incidents occurred in the last two years. There are three problem locations for pilots, according the magazine. Recently the FAA has made changes to cut down the number of runway issues.

Pittsburgh has become an example of reverse brain drain. The City of Pittsburgh is attracting more and more people in their 20’s and 30’s. The median age of city residents fell from 35.5 to 33.2 in the last ten years. (By comparison, the median age of Pennsylvania’s 12.7 million residents in 2010 was 40.1, up from 38.0 in 2000.) This phenomenon is rarely seen outside the Sun Belt and never in the Rust Belt. But then again, this isn’t you’re parent’s Pittsburgh, anymore.

The smokey steel city of the 40’s and 50’s is long gone. Heavy industry has been replaced with education, health-care, robotics, computer technology and other high-tech and green industry. Pittsburgh is building itself a more diversified economy and consistently ranks high on the list of America’s Most Livable Cities. The cost of living in Pittsburgh makes it very attractive to young people.

Because of all these factors, and more, Pittsburgh will be hosting the One Young World Summit in 2012. 2,000 young leaders from 160 countries will be coming to Pittsburgh to discuss topics like global health, climate change and micro-economics. Most of these delegates will be in their 20’s. This will be the third year for One Young World. Last year the event was held in London and this year it was held in Zurich.

Pittsburgh beat out Johannesburg, South Africa to host One Young World in 2012. Other countries that bid for the conference besides South Africa were China, Australia, Peru and Dubai. Pittsburgh was the only American city bidding to host this event.

Scranton has purchased new software that will enable their police department to get a better handle on crime.

For a very low price tag, $6,000, this software will enable police to do crime-mapping, tracking and facilitate anonymous tips from residents. This sounds like something we could easily do in Pottstown. The $6,000 price tag is a blip on our $3 million police budget.

Anonymous tip reporting will get citizens more involved with law enforcement which is something that has been discussed here. Citizens can get on their computer or phone, from the safety of their home, and report crimes or suspicious activity to the police. It is completely anonymous.

The software pinpoints crimes on a map by location, type of crime and the time the crime was committed. In Scranton’s case the data will go back as far as 2003! What an awesome tool for such a rock-bottom price! This technology will give police the opportunity to analyze trends and find creative ways to combat crime.

Scranton had a crime index in 2009 of 306.7, which is slightly below the US average of 319.2. Pottstown had a crime index in 2009 of 454.7. Scranton falls into the low category. 350 – 699 is considered moderate which is where Pottstown scores. A score of 700 – 999 is considered high.

The point of my comparison is that even with a lower crime rate; Scranton is being proactive and spending a few thousand dollars to reduce crime in their city with the use of technology. It would seem this is something Pottstown should seriously consider. I bet Scranton PD would give us a demo :)